Elton John 60 at Madison Square (Universal BD!)

[Neo65]

This is a Universal Music BD disk. When the same Universal logo came out, it felt... right. But then the title underneath said Universal Music. Perhaps some day .

If you're a fan of Elton John, you will like this disk. The concert is his 60th in Madison Square Garden, held on his 60th birthday. Lasting over 3 hours, it started with a few lesser known songs, but most of his major hits were there.

Encoded in AVC, the master looks very clean --- understandable since the concert was from March 2007! This is the concert with the best consistent PQ so far.

The audio comes in 2.0 PCM or 5.1 PCM. Hooked up to my Onkyo 605, it sounds incredible. EJ's voice is no longer young, but the concert had the right energy level for a BD performance. If you crank up the volume while the wife is out, it almost felt like you were there.

One of the fun parts of this disk is that the camera cuts out to view the audience members, and it was almost as much fun to see Bill Clinton, the Osbornes, Anne Hathaway, Rosie (ok, maybe not Rosie) standing up and enjoying themselves. Anne was luminous (in an Ella Enchanted way).

This is quickly turning out to be my favorite music concert disk.

... And the onkyo with 5.1 PCM over HDMI sounds incredible...

Amazon has it cheap.

[Freis968]

I did not like when they moved the camera to the crowd and that beautiful grain free picture went to shit with all the GRAIN.

Grain, grain, grain...I hate grain.

[Neo65]

With dark backgrounds, it's basically impossible to avoid either grain in film or chroma noise from HDCAM.

I believe this was shot on a HDCAM.

Here's an official review by Peter Bracke.
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/1264/elton60.html

This concert has the best consistent PQ that I can remember from any BD music disk.

If I have to pick my favorite tracks here, it would have to be Empty Garden, Daniel, Bennie and the jets. Levon, one of my favorite songs, lacked energy as EJ showed his age, but he picked up the energy after the confetti and birthday song. Daniel clearly was one of his best rendition in years.

[Ashamed Pegasus]

Amazon finally delivered this today so I'll pop it in tomorrow when my neighbors are not sleeping... I caught the end of this on NBC during the summer and it looked like one hell of a concert...

[ryoohki]

Well Fast Film have Grain, Fast ASA HD Digital have Noise.. you're only trading one for the other really. But HD Digital give us Blooper in HD since the video is already processed...

[GreenMotion]

On an other note;

I am somewhat of a fan of Elton John. Not a huge fan, but a fan nonetheless. Anyway, I picked up Elton John - 60 from Amazon for about $17 bucks (Blu-Ray ofcourse) and this title looks and sounds amazing. It's a real feast for both the eyes and ears. If anyone of you is an Elton John fan, I really recommend you pick up a copy.

[mischa316]

I toally agree I rented this from Netflix and man what a disk. I will definitely pick this up eventually. I actaually got to see Elton John in concert in Ft Myers FL in November of '07. Man that show was awesome as well. He played for 2 1/2 hours and only took a 5 minute break. The only song I didnt' get that NY did was Empty Garden for John Lennon and the one we got was Candle In The Wind. The rest was pretty much the same. I think I had 25 songs and the NY one had 33.

Anyways I definitely agree with the reviewer as saying this disk kicks ass!!

Here is the track listing.

1. Sixty Years On
2. Madman Across the Water
3. Where to Now, St. Peter?
4. Hercules
5. Ballad of a Well Known Gun
6. Take Me to the Pilot
7. High Flying Bird
8. Holiday Inn
9. Burn Down the Mission
10. Better Off Dead
11. Levon
12. Empty Garden
13. Daniel
14. Honkey Cat
15. Rocket Man
16. I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues
17. The Bridge
18. Roy Rodgers
19. Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
20. Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word
21. Bennie and the Jets
22. All the Girls Love Alice
23. Tiny Dancer
24. Something About the Way You Look Tonight
25. Philadelphia Freedom
26. Sad Songs (Say So Much)
27. Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me
28. I'm Still Standing
29. The ***** Is Back
30. Crocodile Rock
31. Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)
32. Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
33. Your Song

Mischa.

[WaRe]

I just finished watching elton john bd tonight. Great concert bd. I was kinda dissapointed he didn't play a few of his older songs. A+ disc.

[dperrone]

got it as well, great PQ/AQ. Good title to have for your collection

[AaronSCH]

Originally Posted by GreenMotion

On an other note;

I am somewhat of a fan of Elton John. Not a huge fan, but a fan nonetheless. Anyway, I picked up Elton John - 60 from Amazon for about $17 bucks (Blu-Ray ofcourse) and this title looks and sounds amazing. It's a real feast for both the eyes and ears. If anyone of you is an Elton John fan, I really recommend you pick up a copy.

Agreed. It is a great looking and sounding disc. Elton rises above the recent limitations on his vocal range. This is the best he has sounded in the last few years. My only gripe with the disc is the missing bonus materials. Though not a huge fan of so-called "extras," The assorted videos found on the SD DVD version were well worth the price of admission.

[davcole]

Finally got to check this one out tonight.

Pretty excellent picture quality. Only caveat that I can make is sometimes the background musicians seemed out of focus in some of the wider shots, of course that may just be the camerawork?

Audio was stellar. Absolutely a strong argument for 24 bit PCM. Articulation was very good. Only caveat I have is with the mix on a few songs. I would have really liked to hear Davey Johnstone's banjo on HONKY CAT, also it would have been nice to really hear the cellist.

As for the concert, I was amazed at all the older "studio cuts" that I love so dearly were done:

WHERE TO NOW ST. PETER
HOLIDAY INN
BALLAD OF A WELL KNOWN GUN
HIGH FLYING BIRD
ROY ROGERS


... what so good to hear Elton do those.

After a slow start the first few songs, Elton picked it up with his playing (mostly) along with his vocals (certainly not the caliber it was when he was younger). Interesting cutaways to all the celebs in the office and lastly: Can someone shut Robin Williams UP!!! Why does he have to be ON all the time!

Certainly a great disc for any Elton fan!

[davcole]

On a personal note, I was glad to see not only Davey Johnstone but also Nigel Olsson on drums. I've always been a fan of Nigel's drumming.

[Scooby Blu]

when I have people over to watch a movie. Which by the way is few and far between, I always pop in this disk to demo before the main attraction starts. Everyone is simply stunned by the great sound and P/Q !

[oblio98]

Originally Posted by Scooby Blu

when I have people over to watch a movie. Which by the way is few and far between, I always pop in this disk to demo before the main attraction starts. Everyone is simply stunned by the great sound and P/Q !

I do the same thing! I usually start off with one of the rocking tracks towards the end (***** is Back, Saturday Night's Alright...) and the visitors generally are stunned and want to see more!

[Thomasbeau]

The only real problem with the concert is that the mix is WAY too piano heavy. Davey Johnstone might not have even played as the guitar was set too far back in the mix. I know it's Elton's show but a guitar lead should be brought up and boosted where appropriate. On this show it's not.

[hoytereden]

It's somewhat depressing to realize that it's been close to 40 years ago that I (and my future wife ) saw Elton at the, now demolished, Capital Centre, in MD. Only depressing in that 40 years seems like a blink now; the concert itself was fantastic from the opening number of Funeral for a Friend, with the fog effects, to the final song. Still the best concert I've ever seen.

[Atreyu]

Originally Posted by GreenMotion

On an other note;

I am somewhat of a fan of Elton John. Not a huge fan, but a fan nonetheless. Anyway, I picked up Elton John - 60 from Amazon for about $17 bucks (Blu-Ray ofcourse) and this title looks and sounds amazing. It's a real feast for both the eyes and ears. If anyone of you is an Elton John fan, I really recommend you pick up a copy.

I was pretty lucky as a little over a year ago I got a great like new copy off of Ebay for about six bucks.

[erixon20]

Originally Posted by Atreyu

I was pretty lucky as a little over a year ago I got a great like new copy off of Ebay for about six bucks.

I was at this concert and wish I could get the bluray for 6.00-I have the DVD but not the same.

[HeavyHitter]

Picked this up last week. Impressive 1080p especially for an early BD release. Really nice audio and overall presentation.